This invention relates to instruments and systems for registering and displaying multiple physical measurements, especially length or distance determinations, but also including weight, time and such fluid-pressure-generated readings as those indicating pressure, altitude, speed, temperature and the like.
Conventional apparatus for taking physical measurements may be of limited accuracy, awkward to use, bulky, heavy, or all of these. In the case of length-measuring devices, rulers and yardsticks are inflexible and suitable for making easy measurements only of short lengths along straight lines and flat surfaces. Current tape measures, while capable of somewhat longer measurements, tend to be large and heavy because of their bulky housings and tape-return mechanisms, the latter being subject to wear and malfunction. Standard meters for indicating pressure, altitude, temperature, etc. generally depend on mechanical translation of the force being measured through non-uniformly-performing hair springs or the like, and are therefore of limited accuracy; they may also be relatively large, heavy, difficult to read, complicated, and/or expensive.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide improved apparatus for making and displaying various physical measurements without mechanical connections.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an apparatus which registers, displays, and even retains any one of, or any combination of, such physical measurements as length, weight, time, velocity and such fluid-pressure-controlled factors as pressure and altitude.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide measuring apparatus of relatively small size and weight, yet of greatly increased capacity and accuracy as well as low cost when compared to currently available devices.
These and other objects of the present invention will be described in detail in the following sections of this specification.